Draft-regulator



(No Model.)

DRAFT REGULATOR.

No. 566,073. Patented Aug. 18, 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN S. FOX, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

DRAFT-REG U LATO R.

sr'EcIFIoA'rIoN forming part of Letters Patent NO. 566,073, dated August18, 1896.

Application filed January 14, 1896. Serial No. 575 514. (N0 model-3 Toall whom it may concern:

' Beit known that I, JOHN S. FOX, a citizen of the United States,residing at Oakland, county of Alameda, State of California, have 5invented an Improvement in Draft-Regulators; and I hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to a device for regulating the draft and movementof airin furnaces for heating purposes.

It consistsof an arrangement of dampers and their connectionwith apropelling-wheel driven by the current of moving air, whereby themovement of the air itself automatically controls the supply. 7

It also consists in details of construction which will be more fullyexplained by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which the figureis a vertical section of a furnace and fiues illustrating my invention.

This invention is especially designed to be used in connection withheating-furnaces having a number of hot and cold air passages leading tovarious rooms to be heated, and in which it is necessary to regulate thesupply of air passing to any one room and proportion it properly.

In theoperation of such an apparatus it has been found that the hot airwill, when the fire is started, often go to certain rooms, while otherswill be left with little or no supply for a long time, and it isdifiicult to regulate this 'matter without visiting the rooms andascertaining the condition of each one. Tihs is especially the case inlarge schoolbuildings having many recitation-rooms to be heated by hotair.

In my device I employ a damper or dampers, which are actuated bypropeller-wheels journaled in the air-shafts so as to be rotated by thecurrent passing through the shaft, and when astrong current is passingthrough any one of the conduits it will act through the propeller topartially close the damper or gate in that conduit, and the air willthus be diverted to some other one in which the supply has previouslybeen insufficient. The whole system will thus regulate itself withoutfurther attention.

In the present case I have illustrated my invention as applied to acentrally-disposed heating-furnace with two flues and the necessarypassages for admitting and delivering air.

It will be manifest that any number of fiues may be employed and thatany suitable or desired form of heating apparatus may be used. I do notdesire to confine myself to any especial heater.

A represents a furnace having passages B leading to various rooms anddelivering the heated air into these rooms. In the present case I haveshown the outlet-passages B from the furnace connecting with conduits B,which lead the air from the furnace to the room where it is to bedelivered. Below the passages B and opening directly into the passagesB' are the cold-air passages B A damper or dampers O are fulcrumed orpivoted so that they normally close-the connection between the passagesB and B, but if the heat of the room becomes too great the damper may beshifted so as to close the passage B and allow cold air to pass directlyfrom B to B, and thence into the room. These dampers are operated byhand by means of a cord D hanging conveniently within the room, thisfeature not being a part of my invention.

E E are supplemental dampers pivoted in the passage B, so arranged thatwhen the upper edges are drawn together to close the central portion ofthe passage the lower edges will be carried out against the sides of thepassage and close the outer portion.

When the dampers stand in the vertical position, they offer noimpediment to the free passage of the air.

' It will be understood that a single damper could be employed in thesame position and be centrally fulcrumed, so that when turned it wouldextend entirely across the passage and close it, but I have found thatthe operation is more accurate and convenient when two dampers areemployed. Each of these dampers may have a weight G suspended from itslower edge, or they may be connected by springs F,which normally holdthem in a vertical position and will offer a certainresistance to theirbeing closed. These weights may be applied in any suitable or well-knownmanner so that they can be varied to suit the amount of air which it isdesired to carry to any particular room and the desired resistance tothe movement of the damper.

Above the dampers and between them and the rooms to which the air is tobe conveyed is situated a propeller-wheel 11, mounted upon a verticalshaft I, which is suitably journaled within the passage B. Upon thisshaft is a drum J, and around this drum passes a chain K. The oppositeend of the chain is connected with the upper edge of one of the dampersE.

Each of the dampers E might be connected in the same manner, so thatwhen the shaft is turned in one direction the two chains will be woundupon the drum and the upper edges of the dampers drawn together, thelower edges being correspondingly thrown out toward the sides, so as todecrease the area of the passage. When turned in the other direction,the weights will act to bring the dampers into a vertical position. Inthe present case Ihave shown each of the dampers having a circularsegment L fixed about the pivot-point as a center, and a chain M isfixed to the upper part of one segment and the lower part of the other,and only a single cord or chain is employed connecting the upper edge ofone of the dampers with the winding-drum. With this construction, whenthe upper edge of one damper is drawn in by the rotation of thepropeller and its shaft the chain M will wind upon the segment L of thatdamper, and the opposite end being connected with the segment of theother damper will draw it inward in a corresponding degree.

The propeller-wheel is situated in the passage above the dampers, andthe operation will be as follows: The weights at the lower edges of thedampers hold them normally in avertical position, so as to offer theleast obstruction to the passage of the heated air. When thefurnace-fire is made, the heat will pass through these passages, and iftoo great a volume is passing through any one of the passages while theother ones are not properly supplied the current flowing through thepassage B will rotate the propeller H, thus winding the chain K upon thedrum J, it will act, as previously described, to close the dampers to anextent depending upon the strength of the current. When the dampers areso far closed that the current is not sufficient to act upon thepropeller, the latter may stand in that position, or if the currentbecomes still more reduced the weights upon the lower edges of thedampers will act to draw them back again toward the vertical position,the propeller turning backward at the same time. As the dampers aresituated between the source of supply and the propeller-wheel, it willbe manifest that the latter will be acted upon by the air only when thedamper is opened. The amount of air entering each room will be governedby the weight or spring. For instance, if there are four or six rooms tobe heated from the same furnace and there is a capacity of four thousandcubic feet per minute and it is desirable to divide this into four equalparts, the amount of air passing through each of the fiues can beascertained by means of an air-meter, and weights are then attached tothe dampers to produce the necessary resistance, and these weights willbe proportioned to the amount of air that is desired to have passthrough either of the passages. If a large amount of air is wanted inany one room, heavier weights will be attached to the dampers of thatpassage. If less air is wanted, the weights are lighter, so that thepropeller will act more readily upon the dampers.

If it be desired to shut the air off entirely, the dampers may be sodisposed that they will close by gravitation after the weights areremoved.

The dampers are fulcrumed either upon knife-edge bearings or anysuitable or wellknown form of bearing which will allow them to turn veryeasily.

The dampers, propeller, the connecting cords or chains, and all theparts are made of metal, so that they will resist the heat and not beaffected by it. By this construction the heat-passages will all regulatethemselves automatically and the various rooms connected with thefurnace will receive their proper share of the heated air.

It will be manifest that the dampers and propeller can be arranged in ahorizontal passage and operated in a similar manner by connecting thecounterbalance-weights with the periphery of the segments L, or anequivalent arrangement,-so as to retain the dampers normally open and toreturn them when the air-current ceases or is reduced.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. Flues or passages, dampers fulcrumed therein adapted to stand in linewith the passage when opened, or be turned to close the passage, weightsconnected with the dampers to retain them normally in the open position,a propeller, the shaft of which is journaled in the passage near thedampers, a windingdrum upon the propeller-shaft, and connections withthe dampers whereby the latter are closed by therotation of thepropeller, caused by the passage of an air-current, and are opened bythe action of the weights when the pressure upon the propeller isreduced.

2. A furnace having air-passages leading therefrom, dampers fulcrumed inthe airfiues, weights or springs by which the dampers are normallyretained in line with the passage so that the latter is unobstructed, apropeller-wheel havinga shaft journaled in the flue near the dampers, acord or chain adapted to wind upon the propeller-shaft when the latteris rotated, and having the opposite end connected with one or both ofthe dampers so that the rotation of the propeller by the current of airwill act to partially close the dampers are moved to decrease or closethe air-passage when the propeller is rotated in one direction, circularsegments concentric with the journals of the axes, chains connecting theperipheries of the segments on 0pp0- site sides of the journals so thatthe dampers are moved simultaneously in opposite directions, and weightsor springs by which the dampers are returned to a normally open positionwhen the air-pressure upon the propeller is reduced or ceases.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN S. FOX.

Witnesses:

O. A. FAWOE'IT, FRED. A. CAMPBELL.

